Birchall
Dick Chown Award 2016
Hi,
I think I have bought more LED bulbs and kits than anyone else I know, mainly for the project and for cosmetic appearance.
After a LOT of trial and error I have come to the following conclusions
Interior bulbs - In general LED is a great way to go. You get MUCH brighter interior lighting at low consumption. If you accidentally leave on an interior light and it is LED then you are likely to still have life in your battery the next morning.
The light is very bright and a nice bluey white (generally)
The life of the bulbs is excellent and you may never need to replace them for as long as you own the car.
The kits are reasonably priced considering the many benefits (I think that EMTuning provide one of the best interior kits after trying MANY others)
Exterior bulbs - In general these are a NO !!!!!
Headlamp bulbs are important, they must be efficient, they must have a super accurate beam (and, of course, they must be legal and MOT compliant)
I have tried several different types of LED headlights and have not yet found one that is totally suitable.
The kind that are just a bulb and have no separate "electronics" are to be avoided, they are not bright enough and they are frequently the wrong shape of beam.
The kits that include a fan and a ballast resistor are the best of the bunch and I will continue to use these on the "project" car, but more for show than anything else. They give a really nice white light and are bright enough, but the beam shape is not perfect.
As for Indicator bulbs and rear lights then these are a NO!!! The indicators will not flash correctly and there is no easy solution to this mainly because the flasher relay combines with the hazard flashing and so cannot be easily converted to a relay that flashes consistently regardless of current (LED non-LED).
The rear lights (Stop and tail for example) give "Bulb out" warnings on any DIS equipped cars but remember that the ECU uses the current draw to check if the stop lights are working correctly (many of us have seen the Engine Management warnings caused by a faulty stop lamp switch.)
Yes, you can fit resistors to these bulbs but I don't like splicing in resistors (another source for faults) and what is the point? LEDs have the benefit of a low current drain, so why put that current drain back with a resistor?
The LED fog lights (rear) can work (they are not part of the bulb check) but make sure that you have the type of LED bulb that has illumination on all sides of the bulb as well as a "projector" SMD at the end, or the fog light lens does not fully illuminate.
Reversing lights are great with LEDs in them, again no bulb out warnings and you get a brighter light for less consumption.
Front fogs are best left at NON-LED, mainly because the LED bulbs have blind spots (and SMD on each side of the bulb means that the side illumination is dark.) FOG lights are VITAL safety equipment and so please stick to the best bulb you can get and this is normally the original bulbs (H7 for the front fogs).
As for the number plate lights, the LEDs seem to give a very focussed light and can be too bright, so I would only recommend those for show purposes.
On the project car I run FULL interior LEDs and they look great (IMHO)
I run LED Dip and Main-beam headlights (the proper kit ones) but I cannot class them as 100% legal so I cannot recommend them on that basis, so just for appearance really and they are a tad brighter than standard (and DON'T blind or distract oncoming drivers).
I run LED reverse lights, LED sidelights, LED rear fogs.
I have retained the standard H7s for the front fogs because the beam pattern did not give me 100% coverage.
On my wife's car (and hence MUCH more conscious of safety and legality)
I run FULL interior LED lights (she often scrabbles around the boot or footwells looking for something that has dropped out of her bag).
I run the uprated front headlamp bulbs (non-LED) Currently 100w and so potentially illegal, but the A2 needs better headlamps and the beam pattern is perfect and so I am ok about these (but again can't recommend them due to their legality)
LED reverse bulbs (they really are brighter and so safer)
Standard sidelight bulbs, number plate bulbs and all rear bulbs (apart from the reverse bulbs)
Just my personal views and LED experience so far.
Steve B
I think I have bought more LED bulbs and kits than anyone else I know, mainly for the project and for cosmetic appearance.
After a LOT of trial and error I have come to the following conclusions
Interior bulbs - In general LED is a great way to go. You get MUCH brighter interior lighting at low consumption. If you accidentally leave on an interior light and it is LED then you are likely to still have life in your battery the next morning.
The light is very bright and a nice bluey white (generally)
The life of the bulbs is excellent and you may never need to replace them for as long as you own the car.
The kits are reasonably priced considering the many benefits (I think that EMTuning provide one of the best interior kits after trying MANY others)
Exterior bulbs - In general these are a NO !!!!!
Headlamp bulbs are important, they must be efficient, they must have a super accurate beam (and, of course, they must be legal and MOT compliant)
I have tried several different types of LED headlights and have not yet found one that is totally suitable.
The kind that are just a bulb and have no separate "electronics" are to be avoided, they are not bright enough and they are frequently the wrong shape of beam.
The kits that include a fan and a ballast resistor are the best of the bunch and I will continue to use these on the "project" car, but more for show than anything else. They give a really nice white light and are bright enough, but the beam shape is not perfect.
As for Indicator bulbs and rear lights then these are a NO!!! The indicators will not flash correctly and there is no easy solution to this mainly because the flasher relay combines with the hazard flashing and so cannot be easily converted to a relay that flashes consistently regardless of current (LED non-LED).
The rear lights (Stop and tail for example) give "Bulb out" warnings on any DIS equipped cars but remember that the ECU uses the current draw to check if the stop lights are working correctly (many of us have seen the Engine Management warnings caused by a faulty stop lamp switch.)
Yes, you can fit resistors to these bulbs but I don't like splicing in resistors (another source for faults) and what is the point? LEDs have the benefit of a low current drain, so why put that current drain back with a resistor?
The LED fog lights (rear) can work (they are not part of the bulb check) but make sure that you have the type of LED bulb that has illumination on all sides of the bulb as well as a "projector" SMD at the end, or the fog light lens does not fully illuminate.
Reversing lights are great with LEDs in them, again no bulb out warnings and you get a brighter light for less consumption.
Front fogs are best left at NON-LED, mainly because the LED bulbs have blind spots (and SMD on each side of the bulb means that the side illumination is dark.) FOG lights are VITAL safety equipment and so please stick to the best bulb you can get and this is normally the original bulbs (H7 for the front fogs).
As for the number plate lights, the LEDs seem to give a very focussed light and can be too bright, so I would only recommend those for show purposes.
On the project car I run FULL interior LEDs and they look great (IMHO)
I run LED Dip and Main-beam headlights (the proper kit ones) but I cannot class them as 100% legal so I cannot recommend them on that basis, so just for appearance really and they are a tad brighter than standard (and DON'T blind or distract oncoming drivers).
I run LED reverse lights, LED sidelights, LED rear fogs.
I have retained the standard H7s for the front fogs because the beam pattern did not give me 100% coverage.
On my wife's car (and hence MUCH more conscious of safety and legality)
I run FULL interior LED lights (she often scrabbles around the boot or footwells looking for something that has dropped out of her bag).
I run the uprated front headlamp bulbs (non-LED) Currently 100w and so potentially illegal, but the A2 needs better headlamps and the beam pattern is perfect and so I am ok about these (but again can't recommend them due to their legality)
LED reverse bulbs (they really are brighter and so safer)
Standard sidelight bulbs, number plate bulbs and all rear bulbs (apart from the reverse bulbs)
Just my personal views and LED experience so far.
Steve B
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